


Tempest

by GarnetSeren



Category: Outriders - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Women, Best Friends, Complicated Relationships, Confessions, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Reunions, do not copy to another site, pyromancer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:48:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29909628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarnetSeren/pseuds/GarnetSeren
Summary: Jakub couldn't believe the ghost he was seeing. Thirty-one years. Thirty-one godforsaken years of fighting for survival, three decades where she'd been frozen in time and he'd been ravaged by it... but here she was, somehow saving his ass just when it looked like the Reaper had finally caught up with him. He'd never been the religious sort, but it was hard not to believe in guardian angels when he looked at her; and whilst she'd always been a pain in his ass, he'd really fucking missed her.
Relationships: Outrider/Jakub Dabrowski
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Tempest

Jakub couldn't believe the ghost he was seeing. Thirty-one years. Thirty-one godforsaken years of fighting for survival. Thirty-one years of wondering if he'd ever see her face again.

When those scumbag 'Hounds' had finally gotten hold of him, Jakub had thought that was it, the end of the line. He wasn't scared; the allure of death had been pulling him to the bottom of a bottle since the fucked up day they'd landed on this cursed planet. But then there _she_ was. That same pretty face covered in dirt that haunted his memories. The same tattooed eyeliner and that ridiculous purple strip permanently adorning the middle of her full bottom lip, just like it had been since the day they'd met. Those same three piercings she'd gotten in her left ear after the first night they'd got wasted together. Even the same damn silver hair, undercut and flopping over the right side of her face. He'd laughed his ass off the night she'd gone out and had it genetically altered to look like that... he'd never found the time afterwards to tell her how good she actually looked.

Paine in name and pain his goddamn ass in nature, but fuck! Jakub had missed her and that wisecracking mouth of hers.

Three decades. Thirty-one years. She'd been frozen in time and he'd been ravaged by it. Time had given him more scars, weathered his skin, broken more bones that had never quite healed right; and whilst he was still in decent enough shape all things considered, the lack of regular meals meant he'd lost some of the bulk he'd once been proud of. But the changes weren't just physical. He wasn't the man he once was. He wasn't the man who'd watched her six for _years_ , who'd tried to teach her Russian every time she sat in the passenger seat of their squad's armoured truck. He wasn't the same man who'd accepted her proposition of 'just one night' together, before they fled Earth in a rain of bullets and death... just in case they never woke up from the eighty-seven years of cryostatis, as their spaceship traversed the galaxy to what had been sold as their new home on Enoch.

Thirty-one years had turned Jakub into a sixty-three year old alcoholic, a bitter and lonely old mechanic trying to drink himself to the grave, whilst haunted by nightmares of watching his entire squad be vaporised the day they'd arrived on this false sanctuary. The only members of their team that survived that first day had been him and Paine, and Shira had thrown her back into cryostasis. Granted it was to save her life, but Jakub had never forgiven the Grand Marshall for not letting him go back and revive her; his friend, his comrade, his last tether to the only good thing he'd ever had in his life... their mercenary crew, their brothers and sisters in arms. So thirty-one gruelling years had passed for Jakub, leaving him passed his prime whilst Paine was still the same brilliant woman he'd adored another lifetime ago. The only difference was that she'd come back Altered, with fire crackling from her fingertips and those captivating grey eyes of hers now glowing a faint purple.

Through the gossip running rife in Rift Town, Jakub learnt that Paine had only been back a day, and she was already throwing herself into danger on their behalf. He knew she'd never believed she was a good person... too convinced her early life on the streets and running with gangs to survive had outweighed the work she'd done as a mercenary... but how she acted told a different story. Jakub couldn't image how scared and confused Paine must have been, being woken from cryostasis then left alone and disoriented, left at the mercy of those fucking lunatics outside the walls, left to fight her way across no-mans-land to the relative safety of their ramshackle town. No help, no guidance, no friendly face to have her back. But miraculously she'd made it. Miraculously she wanted to help, instead of telling them all to fuck off after they'd left her in a frozen limbo for thirty-one years. Miraculously she'd seen fit to rescue his sorry ass, when it looked like the Reaper had finally caught up with him. Jakub had never been the religious sort, but it was hard not to believe in guardian angels when he looked at Paine.

Unfortunately instead of taking time to get her bearings, instead of taking stock of the situation she'd been thrust into and figuring the lay of the land... instead of taking a moment to process the fact she wasn't even human any more... Paine was determined to throw herself head first into a fight; not that Jakub was surprised, it had been her coping mechanism for emotions she didn't want to deal with for as long as they'd known each other. However after the Hounds' hospitality, Jakub was in no fit state to join her. Not yet. But he couldn't just let her walk out of the room without saying... _something_.

“Hey!” he called, stumbling to his feet just before she left what passed as the war room.

Paine halted mid step to glance at him, the purple haze in her eyes more noticeable in the dim light; and more captivating than Jakub expected. It took him a moment to realise he was just staring at her, whilst she just quirked an eyebrow at him like she'd always done when she thought he was being an idiot.

“In case I don't get another chance, I...” Jakub paused, swallowing passed the lump growing in his throat. “I tried to find you. But it all went to shit. We had to run for our lives. I just...”

Her expression softened, a barely there smile quirking the corner of her lips. “It's okay. I should have been dead ten times over by now, _would_ be dead if it wasn't for Tanner, Shira... hell, even you back in the day. You have nothing to apologise for Jakub, it's me who's got dues to pay.”

Obviously deciding she'd said her piece, Paine moved towards the door again but Jakub couldn't let her go. Not quite yet. Not when he wasn't entirely sure the Hounds hadn't managed to kill him, and Paine being back was all just a fever dream of his dying mind. He needed her to stay, just a little longer. Just long enough to be sure this was real, that she was really back. Just long enough to somehow explain what she meant to him... just in case.

“Boss! I missed you.”

That was all his desperate mind could think of to say, the only words he had to tell Paine she hadn't been forgotten... at least not by him. There hadn't been a day in the last thirty-one years that she hadn't been the last thought on his mind, before he'd fallen into another alcohol induced sleep. He just didn't have the words to tell her. However, what he did say halted Paine in her tracks. For one weighted heartbeat they just regarded each other, the silence almost deafening before she moved. Despite knowing she was Altered, Jakub hadn't expected Paine to be so fast; crossing the dimly lit room in the time it took him to blink. He didn't expect her to seize the collar of his torn t-shirt, making him swallow thickly as he stared into her glowing eyes, and he certainly didn't expect Paine to press her full lips hard against his chapped ones.

For a moment Jakub was too shocked to react, but when she started to pull away his brain finally kicked into gear. Unable to help it, his eyes slid shut as one of his large hands cradled the back of her head, keeping her close. She smelt of soot and dirt and gunpowder, and he could taste the copper tang of blood on her lips, but that didn't stop Jakub from wrapping his free arm around Paine's waist as she pushed him against the rusting metal wall. It was nothing like the passionate kisses they'd shared that one night they'd shared together. Instead her plush lips pressed to his hard and desperate, whilst his trembled with barely contained emotion as he returned her kiss.

“I'll be back,” she murmured, when she finally stepped away from him. “I promise.”


End file.
